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Against the spirit of the age, but why have the public ask questions in a leadership debate anyway?
The job of journalists is to ask the questions of politicians the public want answered. Beeb did a good job picking questions last night. Pretty much the only thing it got right.
But it doesn't need to be members of the public actually asking them. That creates the problems we've seen today. It prevents politicians being robust, as they can't be seen to be rude to the public.
And grilling politicians is a skill. It takes time to learn. Politicians have been training to avoid questions their entire career. Journalists best placed to do it.
Question Time and Any Questions are good and healthy. But that does not need to be the format for everything. It added nothing last night and cost quite a bit.
